Basarbovo Monastery

Overview

Basarbovo Monastery "St. Dimitar Basarbovo" is a rock monastery in Bulgaria. The monastery is located in the valley of the river Rusenski Lom, near the village of Basarbovo, Rousse municipality, 10 km from the town of Rousse and 80 km from the city of Bucharest. In 1978 it was declared an archeological cultural monument of local significance. The monastery dates back to the Second Bulgarian Kingdom (XII-XIV centuries), but the earliest data date from the Ottoman tax registers from 1431. There it is marked as "Besaraba" - a property with 14 households. At the same time, the monastery is marked as "timar of the great voivode" - meaning Ivanko Besarab - father-in-law of Tsar Ivan Alexander. According to another legend, the Basarbovo monastery was dedicated to St. Theodore Tyrone and St. Theodore Stratilat. The founder of the monastery was tsaritsa Theodora Basarab - the first wife of Tsar Ivan Alexander and daughter of the Wallachian voivode Ivanko Basarab. The nearby village of Basarabovo is also named after the voivode. The most famous inhabitant and eternal abbot is St. Dimitar Basarbovski, born in 1685 and spent his whole life in the monastery. Paisii Hilendarski also mentions this holy monastery in his "Slavo-Bulgarian History". During the Russo-Turkish War (1768 - 1774) the relics of the saint were transferred by General Ivan P. Saltikov to Bucharest and placed in the Metropolitan, and today the Patriarchal Church "Saints Constantine and Helena" on July 13, 1774, where they are located and until today. In 1937, the monk Chrysanthemum settled in the monastery and began to renovate it.

The temple holiday of the monastery is on October 26, the day of St. Dimitar.